Sweet Dreams, Steven
by Master-Magician
Summary: Pearl outright told Steven that she often watched him sleep, but she doubted he understood just how often she did so. It wasn't like she spent every single night with him but… okay, not every single night, but certainly most of them.


**Been wanting to do something fluffy with Pearl and Steven for a while, but I suddenly got a bunch of inspiration for this one in particular. I might even do more Pearl and Steven works depending on reader interest. **

**Not quite sure on this, I just don't like how it turned out. **

**Enjoy. **

* * *

When did it start?

Pearl outright told Steven that she often watched him sleep, but she doubted he understood just how often she did so. It wasn't like she spent every single night with him but… okay, not every single night, but certainly most of them.

If Pearl had to make an educated guess, it began when Steven was much, much younger. Eight years old, maybe a little older or younger. Pearl still had trouble comprehending human ages. It was certainly around the time he first moved in with the Crystal Gems, that part she was sure of.

From the moment he could see what was on the screen, Steven loved to watch movies on the television. Pearl usually only allowed more educational programs, but she didn't always get her way.

Garnet at least agreed with Pearl occasionally, it was Amethyst that was the problem. Not only were her choices not educational in the slightest, some were downright awful or foolish to allow someone of Steven's age to watch. Humans of Steven's youth had fragile minds and thoughts, you couldn't allow them to see certain things until they were older and were better able to handle them. Pearl may have trouble understanding humanity, quite often, but even she knew that much.

It had taken Pearl and Garnet years to learn this lesson, but learn it they did.

Amethyst, however, did not.

Pearl remembered it as a mostly ordinary day. Sunny and clear skies, not too cold nor too hot, nothing out of the ordinary at all. Greg had been out of town for whatever it was he was doing at the time, Pearl tended not to pay him much attention, but the Crystal Gems had business of their own to take care of. Unable to find a human babysitter, they had no choice but to leave one of their own behind to watch Steven.

In hindsight, Amethyst had been a horribly poor choice for this particular assignment…

* * *

"What a waste of time." Pearl stepped off the warp pad into a surprisingly brightly lit Beach House considering the late hour. "It wasn't even a ge…"

Pearl's voice was cut off by the sound of a terrified scream coming from Steven's room. A scream that sounded far too much like Steven's voice for Pearl's comfort.

Pearl and Garnet didn't say a word. Both bolted for Steven's room at maximum speed, neither bothering with the stairs. They simply jumped up the couch and scrambled up the shelf behind it in their haste.

"Dude, chill out!" Amethyst was frantically trying to calm down a screaming Steven in her arms. "Everything's okay!"

"Amethyst!" Pearl skidded to a stop before the pair. "What's going on?"

"I don't know!" The purple gem looked visibly relieved at the arrival of the other two Crystal Gems. "We were watching a movie and he started freaking out!"

Pearl quickly scanned Steven over for any visible injuries but found none. Ruling out him being hurt, Pearl's attention was suddenly drawn to the nearby television which was still playing when she heard assorted noises coming from the device. None of which a child should be hearing.

"Garnet!" Even if Pearl hadn't heard the television, one split second of seeing what was on the screen was enough for her.

Garnet didn't question, or perhaps she came to the same conclusion Pearl did. Regardless, Garnet slammed a gauntleted fist down on the television and smashed it right to bits. It… wasn't quite what Pearl meant, but it got the frightening images away from Steven.

"Amethyst!" Pearl brought what she hoped was a reassuring hand to Steven's back. "What were you two watching?"

"It was just some movie I found." Amethyst explained. "It looked like it was about a clown and don't human kids like clowns?"

"Most do." Garnet answered before picking up a small rectangular piece of plastic. Pearl recognized it as a container for holding those discs human films were imprinted on. "But this is not meant for children."

"It's not?" Amethyst scratched her head.

Garnet said no more, simply handing the container to Pearl for her to look over.

"AMETHYST!" Pearl nearly screamed when she saw it, pulling Steven away from the youngest Crystal Gem. The boy immediately wrapped his little arms around Pearl to cling to her for comfort. "The humans gave this a rating of R!"

"That's like… R for rad, right?" Amethyst smiled, but it certainly wasn't a cheerful one. More like she knew she'd made a huge mistake and was hoping to be wrong about making it.

"NO!" Pearl did scream this time, holding Steven close. Pearl thought about reading off the reasons from the box why it was given that rating, but Steven look traumatized enough as it was. "R means it is for human adults, not children!"

"Oh." Amethyst's meek smile faded in the blink of an eye. "I'm sorry, Steven."

Pearl didn't bother scolding Amethyst any further, she'd simply misunderstood human culture, again. Stars know all of the Crystal Gems still had trouble comprehending human culture and norms. Thousands of years later and they were still making regular mistakes like these.

Except this time, Steven was the one paying the price for it, and that struck a chord within Pearl.

"It's fine, Amethyst." Pearl forced herself to calm down with gritted teeth. "But it's late, and far past time for Steven to go to bed."

"No!" Steven spoke up for the first time since Pearl and Garnet's arrival.

"Steven…" It was far from the first time the boy didn't want to go to bed, it was a regular occurrence that Pearl found annoying, but put up with.

"But… but…" Steven stammered. "What about the monsters?"

"Steven, there are no monsters." Pearl sighed, having fully saw this one coming from over the horizon. The overactive imaginations of children were a power all on their own. "It was just a movie, nothing there could ever possibly hurt you. It's not even real."

"It is!" Steven implored, once more squeezing Pearl as tightly as he could. "They're gonna get me! They could be here, right now!"

"Okay, Crystal Gems, you heard him." Garnet summoned both her gauntlets with a flourish. "Split up and search this place top to bottom for clowns. If you find one, don't bother with bubbling. Shatter it."

"Right." Pearl wasn't quite sure if Garnet legitimately believed a threat could be inside the building, or if she was putting on a dramatic show for Steven's sake. Regardless, it was irrelevant. If this helped reassure the boy, so be it.

"Wahoo!" Amethyst summoned her flail and leaped off the upper level of Steven's bedroom to begin her quest in the kitchen. "Search and destroy!"

It was no surprise for Pearl that Steven refused to relent his hold on her. He was still terrified and holding onto her seemed to be the only thing that could give him any peace of mind. Pearl thought nothing of it, merely called forth her spear and began combing about Steven's room for an imaginary clown that eats children.

Without thinking, Pearl's spare hand held on to Steven. Just in case there was something in here that she needed to protect the small child from. She doubted it but… even with a one percent chance, Steven's safety was not something she was going to gamble with.

An hour later, and their search turned up nothing. Other than a surprisingly fresh tuna sandwich Garnet found under the couch.

"Was wondering where I put that!" Amethyst gobbled the revolting thing down, much to Pearl's disgust. Luckily Steven's nose was buried into her waist so he didn't see the shameful display.

At least they finally managed to calm Steven down so that he wasn't crying anymore. But for all their attempts, he still was sure the evil clown could find and eat him. As if Pearl would allow such a thing to happen.

There was only one thing left for them to do.

Naturally, Pearl was the one who volunteered.

The boy very well couldn't sleep in any of their rooms. None of them were remotely safe for a clumsy, fragile, and tiny human. Pearl had been left with no choice but to take up a vigil in Steven's own room to watch out for imaginary… clowns. Ugh…

Pearl had grossly underestimated just how reassuring her presence made Steven. The boy himself was laying down, Pearl at his side, back to the headboard, and one of her legs hanging off the side. Steven managed to fall right asleep in less than five minutes. She watched with wonder that he could sleep so easily, so peacefully, that quick. Steven snuggling into her might have had something to do with it, too.

Pearl didn't mind, honestly. It was surprisingly… nice, to sleep with Steven like this. Before she could stop herself, Pearl's hand absentmindedly reached out to stroke the boy's hair. He didn't awaken, but Pearl could see him smiling in his sleep.

Pearl's ministrations halted when she caught sight of the all too familiar gem poking out where Steven's trousers met his shirt. Memories came flooding back unbidden of Rose Quartz, and Pearl's beloved d…

No.

Pearl forced those thoughts and memories from her mind. Now was not the time to be thinking about Rose, no matter how badly she wanted to. No matter how badly Pearl missed her, she was gone and nothing was going to bring her back.

At least, this was what Pearl tried to tell herself again and again. She wasn't sure if she would ever fully believe it. Gems had long lives, and things like that would not let go easily. But Pearl was going to try, for Steven's sake.

Pearl's fingers resumed running through Steven's hair while she leaned down to whisper.

"Sweet dreams… Pearl…."

"Sweet dreams, Steven."

* * *

That was the first night Pearl watched Steven sleep. His fear over that stupid movie lasted weeks, so each night Pearl would sit with him and remain at his side until the sun rose, bringing the boy to the waking world with it.

When Steven finally got over the evil clowns, Pearl was no longer needed as a sleeping companion. She almost couldn't believe how disappointed she was about this. She'd been coming to enjoy her nights with the boy. Just knowing her young charge was safe beside her, completely as peace, made her oddly… happy. A feeling she wasn't unfamiliar with, but couldn't remember the last time she felt it.

Pearl almost wished something would happen that would require her nightly attentions once more. She'd immediately dismissed the very idea as selfish foolishness.

Yet, as the humans say, she should have been careful what she wished for…

* * *

"Still more than a hundred, but lower than it was the other day." Pearl read off the thermometer before feeling Steven's forehead with the back of her hand. The tiny machine in her hand was more precise, but Pearl was trying to practice doing the same without it. One never knew when such a device would be unavailable.

"Bleh…" Steven groaned from beneath the blankets, an ice pack on his head.

"Let this be a lesson to you about playing in the rain." Pearl gently chastised before fixing his blankets. "Greg warned you about getting sick."

"I know…" Steven visibly slumped into the mattress, face crestfallen. "Sorry for making all you guys so worried."

"It's fine." Pearl smiled, her hand stroking Steven's warm cheek. "You'll be healthy and back on your feet in no time."

Pearl and the Crystal Gems had been a little… emotional when Steven collapsed. Pearl had been the worst of the group, going into a full-blown teary breakdown that Steven was dying and they couldn't help him.

They were actually rushing Steven to the closest hospital when they literally ran into Steven's father, Greg, whose van and home now had an Amethyst shaped dent in the side. A problem that would be resolved another day.

In hindsight, they should have called Greg first. Pearl allowed her animosity for the man to get in the way of Steven's health and safety. A mistake she still felt guilty over. Not to mention she felt so foolish for becoming so irrational over what should have been nothing.

Much to Pearl's immense displeasure, they'd been forced to rely on his knowledge at first while Steven was in the early stages of this sickness. Being unaccustomed to illness and disease themselves, none of them had any knowledge on the subject. Thankfully this particular one was not a rare occurrence. The humans even dubbed it the 'common cold'. An unoriginal, but oddly accurate name, if Pearl had ever heard one.

Pearl was ashamed for not remembering to cover this in her research for the care of human children. She was not going to be caught off guard again, stars willing.

Once Steven was out of the worst of it, Greg allowed, albeit with some hesitation, Pearl to take over Steven's care. If the gems were going to be his guardians, they needed to learn to see to all of his needs, no matter how foul, disgusting, or unpleasant.

Garnet even volunteered to unfuse and let Sapphire or Ruby join Steven under the covers to see if it helped restore his body's equilibrium. It was a tempting offer, but Pearl feared Sapphire might lower the temperature too far. As for Ruby, the reasoning was that the heat of a fever was meant to destroy any microscopic organisms inside Steven, making him ever hotter would kill them faster, making Steven healthier quicker. The latter was denied on the spot by Pearl. She suspected that was not going to work, and if it did anything, it might actually make him even more ill. Still, Sapphire's was an idea if his fever were to spike on them.

While still not back to normal, Steven was healthy enough to be left on his own overnight. But… Pearl didn't want to leave him. She would freely admit she was worried, but she didn't tell the others just how terrified she was. Every time she thought about leaving him alone, Pearl would envision multiple scenarios of what would happen while he was unsupervised.

Pearl was frankly in disbelief Garnet wasn't here with her watching over the boy. Surely with her vision, she must be actually seeing bad things happen to Steven, whereas Pearl was only conjuring them within her mind. Then again, Garnet might just be placing her faith in Pearl and feel that her own presence was unrequired.

She wasn't needed, but still, Pearl found herself beside Steven once again, in the same customary position she had taken up when he was scared over that film. Sitting on the bed, back to the headboard, and one leg hanging off the side. Steven snuggled into Pearl as if she were his prized stuffed bear.

Not once did Steven question her sleeping alongside him, as if he too was happy she was here.

Pearl once again found herself smiling as her fingertips ran through Steven's mildly sweaty hair in a way she knew he enjoyed and found soothing. In that moment, hearing Steven's content sighs and hums made this the only place in the entire universe Pearl wanted to be.

"Sweet dreams, Pearl…"

"Sweet dreams, Steven."

* * *

And now, Steven knows about Pearl's habit of watching him sleep. For the first time in all these years, he'd woken up while she was present. It was probably Lion's fault, Steven would never have found out if that animal hadn't made a nighttime fuss.

Because of Lion, Steven had chased her and the animal both away with a pillow. Pearl pretended to be waved off, but would not be deterred that easily.

While Lion stayed away for the rest of the night, Pearl bided her time and came back after a short wait and found Steven back in bed snoring quietly.

The movements of gem and boy were almost automatic. Pearl slipped into the bed beside Steven, back to the headboard and leg hanging off, while Steven scooted over and curled into Pearl's side, one of his arms coming to wrap around her while a soft sigh left his lips.

Pearl smiled down at the boy, fingers brushing his hair. Leaning down, she planted a gentle kiss to the top of his head.

"Sweet dreams, Steven."

"Sweet dreams… Pearl…"

* * *

**Let me know what everyone thinks! I'd still like to do more works. **

**Bonus points to those who know what movie Steven and Amethyst were watching. **


End file.
